David Lochridge, OceanGate’s former director of marine operations, reportedly accused founder Stockton Rush of fraud after raising safety concerns about the Titan submersible. That is a colleague’s characterization, not a legal finding: the U.S. Coast Guard’s 2025 investigation described negligence and potential criminal liability, but did not determine that Rush committed fraud or that a crime occurred.
What David Lochridge reportedly said about Stockton Rush
A Vanity Fair feature reports that Lochridge raised concerns about Titan’s design and condition and submitted a 10-page quality-control inspection report in 2018. The feature says Rush dismissed him and OceanGate later sued him. The fraud wording in the headline should therefore be read as an attributed allegation, not as an established fact.
The available copy of the Vanity Fair feature was hosted by a third party, so its precise wording and context should be checked against Vanity Fair’s original publication. The central reported point is that Lochridge warned about Titan before the 2023 disaster; the report does not itself establish that a court found Rush committed fraud.
What the Coast Guard found about Titan
On August 5, 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation released its report on the Titan casualty. The Coast Guard said the Board identified inadequate design, certification, maintenance, and inspection processes as primary contributing factors. Its press release also cited a toxic workplace culture, gaps in rules governing submersible operations and novel designs, and an ineffective whistleblower process.
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The Board found that OceanGate failed to investigate and address known hull anomalies after the 2022 Titanic expedition. Titan’s real-time monitoring generated data that should have been analyzed and acted on during that expedition, but OceanGate did not act on it, conduct preventative maintenance, or properly store the submersible during the extended off-season before the 2023 expedition.
Board chair Jason Neubauer said, “This marine casualty and the loss of five lives was preventable.” The Coast Guard described the report as more than 300 pages long and said it contains 17 safety recommendations; it did not give an exact page count in its release.
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Did the Coast Guard find Rush committed fraud?
No. The report’s findings are not a fraud adjudication. The Board said Rush, acting both as OceanGate’s CEO and Titan’s master or pilot, exhibited negligence that contributed to the deaths of the four other people aboard.
The Board said it would have recommended that the Department of Justice consider a separate criminal investigation if Rush had survived. It expressly left the decision about whether a crime occurred to DOJ and said that determination will not happen in this instance because Rush died. That is distinct from a finding of guilt, and it does not establish fraud.
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How to distinguish the allegation from the official findings
- Colleague’s reported allegation: Lochridge reportedly raised safety concerns and characterized Rush’s conduct as fraud.
- Official investigation: The Coast Guard Board found failures in Titan’s design and oversight, OceanGate’s practices, and its handling of monitoring data; it also described Rush’s negligence as contributing to four deaths.
- Legal status: The sources do not establish a finding that Rush committed fraud. The Board left any determination that a crime occurred to DOJ, and no such determination will be made in this instance because Rush died.
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